Stuart Clark

IT developer at Fronde

Stuart Clark swapped the traffic jams of London for the freedom of Wellington to make time for his rock climbing passion.

The IT developer used to work in London but spent almost all his spare time escaping to the English countryside or heading to Scotland to spend the weekend rock climbing. He came to Wellington to have more access to the outdoors.

“I just got sick of being stuck in traffic jams every weekend. I didn’t really want to go to Auckland because coming from London it just seemed to be swapping one big city for another.”

Outside work, he relishes the ease with which you can move around the country.

Roads aren’t as congested as in the UK and petrol’s about half the price, which means he can explore more of New Zealand’s great outdoors and, importantly, get more climbing done.

"I've had the opportunity to work with some really smart people, and work on some really interesting projects.

The work culture is different in New Zealand. The Kiwis are concious of the fact they come from a small nation and it's built into their psyche to try and punch above their weight and over achieve, and it permeates at every level of the office environment."

Mark Bruce

Software developer at Trademe

Six years ago Mark Bruce could only dream about walking to work along a picturesque waterfront to an amazing job in an action packed yet family friendly city.

But now that’s what he finds himself doing as a software developer at Trade Me in Wellington. “It’s just my dream job. I couldn’t ever imagine having the same job in England.”

Trade Me is the largest internet auction website in New Zealand and Mark loves his position, especially the environment and culture.

“It’s a really welcoming place. When I first started everyone was really friendly and it’s a good social atmosphere.”

Mark first came over to Wellington with his wife on honeymoon in 2007 and the couple fell in love with the place, moving back in 2013. They now have a young son and find it easy to get about with him in such a compact capital city.

“We take him everywhere. To football, swimming, all these activities are in the city.”

Living in Wellington is economical for a family too. “Things like childcare works out better for us here than in the UK, but you can’t really compare dollars and pounds.”

The couple are delighted with the welcoming neighbourhood they now live in. “We’ve had barbeques with our neighbours where there’s been 20 or 30 people there.”

But what’s a BBQ without a good beer? Not having enough of a choice in beer varieties was something that Mark worried about when he first arrived. However, he found the opposite was true.

“I was blown away. There were so many craft breweries, so many beers; I just didn’t know where to start.”